This disclosure relates generally to cooling gas turbine engine airfoils. More particularly, this disclosure relates to communicating air through a branched channel within a wall of the airfoil to cool the airfoil.
Gas turbine engines are known and typically include multiple sections, such as a fan section, a compression section, a combustor section, a turbine section, and an exhaust nozzle section. The compressor and turbine sections include blade arrays mounted for rotation about an engine axis. Between blades, vanes exist to guide flow. The blade and vane arrays include multiple individual airfoils that extend radially from a mounting platform to a tip on blades, and to another platform on vanes. As known, airfoils are exposed to extreme temperatures within the engine.
Fluid, such as air, is often used to remove thermal byproducts from the engine, including the airfoils. For example, some airfoils communicate air through film cooling holes in the walls of the airfoils to cool the airfoils. The cooling air moves from cavities in the core of the airfoil core through the film cooling holes. Some airfoils include impingement holes configured to communicate air toward a particular area of the airfoils.